Mar22
George Cockshott’s sweet 12-foot dinghy
International 12 Foot Dinghy
This morning a ‘pingback’ appeared in my comments from the Italian weblog SIBMA. I’m not entirely clear what a pingback is, but apparently it was meant to inform me that my post about the Cinderella rowing conversion had been picked up by the SIBMA site.
I took a moment to see what else SIBMA had been publishing lately. Well; that’s how WWW works, isn’t it?
Sure enough, Cinderella appeared at the top of the SIBMA blog for today, but just a couple of posts down I was amazed to see a post about what looked like a classic little clinker-built English sailing dinghy.
When I read on, it turned out that the little boat had been designed for a competition nearly a century ago by an amateur boat designer from Southport, called George Cockshott.
The story goes that the International Twelve Foot Dinghy won the competition and became the first one-design racing dinghy to gain international recognition. Today it’s said to be almost unknown in the United Kingdom, but still enjoys followings in Japan, The Netherlands and in Italy, where it seems to be raced highly competitively.
This is a very nice boat, and in case you fancy building your own, a link to a set of drawings appears at the Italian Dinghy 12 Association site, specifically at this page.
I can’t find anything that looks like offsets or a set of frame dimensions, however. Perhaps someone who reads Italian can identify where they might be found?
Cockshott also seems to have designed the Star class sailed and raced at West Kirkby Sailing Club.
PS ‘Steve’ (see correspondence below) tells us that the International Twelve now has it’s own website in English at http://www.12footdinghy.org
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andrea Mar 22nd 2007 at 07:52 pm 1
Yes, the pingback is the segnalation that your post appears on another blog. thank you for your fantastic work about the small boats.
ciao
Andrea
andrea Mar 22nd 2007 at 08:15 pm 2
I can’t find anything that looks like offsets or a set of frame dimensions, however. Perhaps someone who reads Italian can identify where they might be found?
You can request the original drawings at the Italian Dinghy 12 Ass.
Corso Magenta,42 - 20123 Milano - Tel: 02-43925304 - Fax: 02-48011624 - email:aicd@dinghy.it
ciao
Andrea
EdB Mar 23rd 2007 at 02:53 pm 3
That is an interesting rig for a small dingy but I’m not sure what to call it.
Anybody know the proper terminology and have any comments on its efficiency?
Gavin Atkin Mar 23rd 2007 at 06:27 pm 4
It’s a standing lug. Nice, simple sail, not quite as wild as a leg of mutton or gaff-rigged sail in a gybe and with the benefit of short spars.
In 103 Sailing Rigs, Phil Bolger says that it’s at least as effective as a gaff-rigged sail but big ones can be a bit challenging to raise and lower in heavy weather.
Gav
Steve Mar 26th 2007 at 10:18 am 5
You can read more about the International 12 Foot Dinghy (in English) at:
http://www.patrimoine-leman.ch/dinghy12
The class is currently experiencing a rennaissance with new boats being constructed in France, Turkey and Lithuania as well as in the long established strongholds of Italy, Japan and The Netherlands.
Steve
Steve Nov 19th 2008 at 08:14 am 6
An update to my previous post: The International 12 Foot Dinghy now has its own website and domain at: http://www.12footdinghy.org
Steve
Happy Hotelier Jan 4th 2009 at 04:34 pm 7
Hi
Landed here via Google
Jused to race it eons ago. Have one built in 1944 in good shape.
Published a titbit about this dinghy here: http://www.happyhotelier.com/2009/01/04/photo-plugin-galore-first-try-an-old-love-12-ft-dinghy/. There are some pointers to other sites.
Cheers and Happy New Year!